Taiwan's storied Palace Museum must expand its global horizons, president says
By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's National Palace Museum, home to one of the world's biggest collections of imperial Chinese treasures, must expand its horizons internationally to let the "world see Taiwan", President Lai Ching-te said on Friday as it marked its centenary.
The museum was re-established in Taiwan in 1965 after the Republic of China government lost a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists and fled to the island in 1949, taking with them thousands of cases of antiques once owned by China's emperors, saving them from destruction during and after the revolution.
While it is a top tourist attraction, the presence of so many Chinese artefacts has over the years caused discomfort to those Taiwanese who champion the island's separate and distinct identity from China.
Speaking to inaugurate an exhibit of French impressionist and early modernist paintings from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lai said the National Palace Museum was a "state asset".
"The National Palace Museum not only needs to deepen its roots locally, it also needs to deepen them internationally. We need to go into the world, to let the world see Taiwan, but also to bring the world to Taiwan," he said at the museum, located in Taipei's foothills.
"The National Palace Museum is not only the National Palace Museum of Taiwan, but also the National Palace Museum of the world, and I believe these values should be strongly supported by the international community."
A competing institution remains in Beijing, the similarly named Palace Museum, though the National Palace Museum is not planning any joint anniversary events with China.
Quincy Houghton, the Met's Deputy Director for Exhibitions and International Initiatives, speaking at the event with Lai, praised the close relations between the museums, including in 1996 when the National Palace Museum sent some of its collection to the Met.
"We are honoured to collaborate with the National Palace Museum on its very special centennial year," she said.
Works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne are on show at the National Palace Museum until mid-October.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ex-NY Assembly Dem candidate swiped $160K in taxpayer funds in illegal campaign finance scheme: feds
A former Democratic candidate for New York state Assembly allegedly stole $160,000 in taxpayer cash by defrauding the state's new campaign matching-funds program, federal prosecutors said Friday. Dao Yin, who lost his long-shot bid for the Assembly's 40th District in Queens last year, was slapped with a wire fraud charge and arraigned in Brooklyn federal court Friday. Yin, 62, is accused of submitting bogus signatures to inflate the number of campaign contributions he received in order to boost the amount of public matching-funds he was entitled to receive, according to the feds. 'Through lies and deceit, the defendant allegedly stole over $160,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund his campaign for elected office,' said Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, in a statement. The Queens resident and Chinese national submitted over 200 contribution cards to the state Public Campaign Finance Board — 'many' of which were fraudulent, the complaint against him alleges. The forged signatures raised red flags at the CFB, which requested some letters from the donors to ensure the contributions were legit. But Yin allegedly submitted fake letters in response, evidently duping the finance board, according to the complaint. When Yin got obliterated in the primary — receiving only around 6% of the vote — it sparked even more alarms. That 6% translated to roughly only 185 votes, meaning Yin had more contributors than voters. 'As alleged, the defendant, a former candidate for public office, submitted forged campaign contribution cards from members of the very community he hoped to represent, to fraudulently obtain thousands of dollars in public matching funds that he was not entitled to receive,' Brooklyn US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. wrote in a statement. 'Today's arrest demonstrates that this Office will protect the integrity of elections and pursue candidates for elected office who violate campaign finance laws,' he said. Yin, who did not return a request for comment Friday, could face up to 20 years behind bars if convicted. The state's generous campaign matching-funds program has no limit and allows candidates in tight races to pocket $12 in taxpayer cash for every $1 of small donations made by district residents. The state Board of Elections declined to comment on the pending legal matter.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Marines detain civilian in Los Angeles, in first such case
U.S. Marines temporarily detained a civilian in Los Angeles Friday afternoon, the first known case of the military doing so since it deployed to Los Angeles County. The incident was first reported by Reuters, who identified the detained man as U.S. Army veteran Marcos Leao. A spokesperson for U.S. Northern Command confirmed that an individual was detained, but turned over to law enforcement officials after approximately 10 minutes. He was transferred to the custody of officers from the Department of Homeland Security before being released. Per Reuters, Leao was on his way to the nearby Veterans Affairs campus when he crossed yellow tape at the Wilshire federal building, which Marines from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment took over guarding this afternoon. Marines quickly detained him and restrained him using zip ties. Social media and a Backstage account matching Leao's name and image describe him as a 27-year-old personal trainer, actor and model. According to his biography, he completed one tour in Iraq while in the U.S. Army. Leao, who gained U.S. citizenship through his military service according to Reuters, was released by authorities and said he was treated 'very fairly.' Earlier this morning Gen. Scott Sherman, the commander of Task Force 51, the Northern Command body created to oversee military operations in Los Angeles County, confirmed that U.S. Marines from 2/7 had arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday with the main mission of guarding federal property. The first group out of the 700 total Marines from 2/7 are at the Wilshire federal building at Sepulveda and Wilshire boulevards, more than 10 miles from the city blocks in Downtown Los Angeles where protests have mainly occurred over the last week. The building is located near the University of California, Los Angeles, and on the other side of the 405 freeway from the West Los Angeles Veteran Affairs campus. In the Friday briefing, Sherman said that no Marines or National Guard soldiers had 'watched' federal agents arrest people, but had not carried out any temporary detentions. NORTHCOM confirmed to Task & Purpose that Leao's detention was the first such case in the military's deployment to Los Angeles County. On Saturday, June 7, President Donald Trump federalized 2,000 members of the California National Guard, from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, with the order to protect federal property and agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the face of protests from Los Angeles residents. On June 9, he ordered 700 Marines from 2/7 to Los Angeles and federalized another 2,000 Guardsmen, mainly from the 49th Military Police Brigade. The Marines spent several days outside of Los Angeles County, carrying out training in less-than-lethal procedures. The second group of National Guard troops have not yet been deployed to Los Angeles. A Marine Corps reply-all email apocalypse has an incredible real-life ending Army shuts down its sole active-duty information operations command Army plans to close more than 20 base museums in major reduction Former Green Beret nominated to top Pentagon position to oversee special ops The Navy's new recruiting commercial puts the 'dirt wars' in the past
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Iran says nuclear talks with US 'meaningless' after Israel attack
CAIRO (Reuters) -Iran said on Friday the dialogue with the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear programme is "meaningless" after Israel's biggest-ever military strike against its longstanding enemy, accusing Washington of supporting the attack. "The other side (the U.S.) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime (Israel) to target Iran's territory," the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying. He said Israel "succeeded in influencing" the diplomatic process and the Israeli attack would not have happened without Washington's permission. Iran earlier accused the U.S. of being complicit in Israel's attacks, but Washington denied the allegation and told Tehran at the United Nations Security Council that it would be "wise" to negotiate over its nuclear programme. The sixth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks was set to be held on Sunday in Muscat, but it was unclear whether it would go ahead after the Israeli strikes. Iran denies that its uranium enrichment programme is for anything other than civilian purposes, rejecting Israeli allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons. U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters that he and his team had known the Israeli attacks were coming but they still saw room for an accord.
